TITLES OF CHRIST
SON OF RIGHTEOUSNESS
DR. JIM DIXON
MALACHI 3:13-4:6
JULY 30, 1989
At the center of our solar system there is, of course, a star and we call that star the sun. For centuries, for millennia, men and women have actually worshipped the sun. Worshipped the sun because of the great light, the great heat that radiates from it. Today, we understand that the sun contains incomprehensible energy and power. The sun, of course, is very, very hot. The surface of the sun is 11,000 degrees Fahrenheit. But that temperature pales when compared with the temperature at the core of the sun where thermonuclear reactions are taking place. The temperature at the core of the sun is actually 27 million degrees Fahrenheit. So hot. If you were to take a speck of matter the size of a pinhead from the core of the sun, its power, its heat, would be so great that that speck of matter from the core of the sun the size of a pinhead would kill a man a million miles away.
Well, of course, the earth is 93 million miles from the surface of the sun. Only one 2-billionth of the sun’s energy and light reaches the earth, one 2-billionth. And yet even that energy is incomprehensible because, you see, all the oil, all the coal, all the wood of planet earth collectively could not provide as much energy as the sun sends to the earth in one week. Indeed, the sun radiates more power in one second than mankind has used since the dawn of civilization. Incomprehensible power.
But you see, the Bible tells us that there is a son with greater power, and that son the Bible calls the “Son of Righteousness.” The Bible makes it very clear that at the consummation, at the close of this age, the Son of Righteousness shall arise. In the intertestamental period, the time between the writing of the Old Testament and the New Testament, among the Jews, one of their favorite titles for the promised Messiah was this title, the Son of Righteousness. Today, it is a title rarely used but the Bible makes it very evident that this title refers to Jesus Christ. The Son of Righteousness shall arise. When He comes, He will come for two purposes. First of all, He will bring judgement and justice. He will bring justice to the earth.
You see, in the world in which we live, sometimes justice isn’t served. The people who lived in the days of Malachi knew that and it bothered them, and they were angry with God. They said “It is vain to serve God for what is the good of our keeping His charge, our walking in mourning before the Lord of Hosts? Henceforth, we deem the arrogant blessed and evildoers not only prosper but when they put the Lord to the test, they escape.”
Do you sometimes feel like that? Do you sometimes feel like it’s vain to serve God? Sometimes, does it bother you that evildoers seem to prosper and when they put the Lord to the test, they escape? Does the lack of justice in this world concern you? Why is it that so many times a good person, relatively, a man or a woman who loves Jesus Christ and loves people for His sake, is stricken with a horrible disease or perhaps has a horrible accident that cuts their life short when other people, perhaps people who aren’t so good, even evil people, people who have no love for God and no love for mankind, sometimes will make millions of dollars in this world and live to an age of 100. Does that bother you and where’s the justice? Does it bother you that a drunk driver can be cruising down the street and lose control of the car, drift into the lane going the other way, cause a head-on collision and five people in the other car can be killed instantly but the drunk driver emerges without a scratch? Where’s the justice?
Of course, injustice in this world is not always so dramatic and serious. There’s little things in life that just don’t seem just. Why does the line we’re in always move slower? Does that bother you? Does it bother you that you get a ticket for going 5 miles an hour over the speed limit? You get a lot of tickets like that but maybe your spouse is a horrible driver and never gets a ticket. Where’s the justice in that? That’s how Barb feels about me.
I read recently the story of Leonard Holt. His story is told in TIME MAGAZINE. Leonard Holt was a lab technician for a Philadelphia paper mill. He worked there at this Philadelphia paper mill for 15 years. He was a hard worker and he was a responsible worker, a highly respected man. He had been a Boy Scout leader and was an affectionate, caring father. He worked volunteer in a local fire brigade. He was a regular church goer. He was considered a model for young people, highly respected, venerated in the community. But, you see, one morning in October, Leonard Holt got up, took a 45 automatic, a Smith & Wesson .38, put them in his coat, got into the family station wagon. He drove to that Philadelphia paper mill where he worked. He slowly got out of the car. He walked into the building and he took out those guns and he began to fire. He sent 30 bullets into people. Two and three shots and the people that he had worked with for 15 years. Leonard Holt died as the police tried to apprehend him.
Subsequent investigation revealed that he was an extremely bitter and angry man. Bitter because of what he considered to be the lack of justice in this world and he just wasn’t going to take it anymore. Nineteen years he had worked there at that Philadelphia paper mill. People had been promoted over him and he’d been left in the same position. Sometimes, people who had only worked for the company for one year were promoted over him. Other times, people who never worked at the company at all, people from the outside were brought in and given positions of authority over him. It just wasn’t just and he snapped. He couldn’t take it anymore.
You see, God doesn’t want you to become bitter. He doesn’t want you to become bitter as you look at the lack of justice in the world that surrounds you. God wants you to remember a few things. There’s a few things He would remind you of if you’re tempted to bitterness. First of all, He would remind us that we don’t have it so bad. You see, He would particularly remind us of that living here in America. In fact, He would remind us that we have been unfairly blessed. We have been unjustly blessed. Two billion people live in India and China, more than 3 billion people on the Asian continent. Many of them have very little food. They don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Very little in the way of materialistic things. Some of them have little freedoms.
You could have been born in Asia. Most people were. But, you see, we have been blessed to be born right here in the United States. You could have been born somewhere behind the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe where there’s very little freedom, where in many parts of Eastern Europe people are not even allowed to come to church like this, and I wouldn’t be allowed to stand up here and say what I’m saying this morning. You could have been born in South America or Central America where there’s lesser freedom and lesser wealth than we have here. But, you see, we were born here in the United States of America…unfairly, unjustly blessed. Even if you took out bankruptcy just last week and your finances are totally a disaster, even if you are absolutely broke by the world’s standards, you are rich just because you live right here in the United States of America.
Well, God would also remind us that this world is fallen and we shouldn’t expect justice from this world. There are times when we will be treated unfairly and times when we will be treated unjustly. We should expect that in a fallen world because the Bible tells us Satan is the ruler of this world. Satan is the ruler of this world and he has no concern with justice. He is concerned only with himself. Jesus Christ has already said to us “In this world you will have tribulation.” Be prepared for it.
But the Lord also wants us to know we don’t need to be bitter and let that bitterness fester inside of us because He has promised the Son of Righteousness will come. The Son of Righteousness will come and He will implement justice on the earth. Sometimes it seems like evil people are getting away with it, and at sometimes it seems like the evil prosper. God wants us to understand accountability is built into the creation and one day the Creator is returning. The Son of Righteousness is coming and men and women will have to give an account.
The Bible says “Behold, He is coming with the clouds. Every eye shall see Him. Everyone who cursed Him. All the nations will cry out on account of Him.” The Bible says “The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the archangels’ call and with the sound of the trumpet of God.” The Bible says “The Lord Himself shall come from heaven in power and great glory and all of His angels with Him. He will sit on His glorious throne and before Him shall be gathered all the nations and He shall separate them one from the other.” Judgment. It’s coming.
You see, one day each and every one of us is going to be judged. You’re going to be judged. I’m going to be judged. We’re all going to stand before the Son of Righteousness. What’s He going to look for when you stand before Him on that day, at the consummation? What’s He going to look for?
The first thing He’s going to look for: He’s going to look for faith. “When the Son of Man comes,” Christ said “will He find faith on the earth?” He’s going to look for faith in your heart when you stand before Him; faith in Him as Lord and Savior of life. Do you really believe in Him as Lord? The Bible makes it very clear that either you’ve taken Jesus Christ as Lord or you’ve made yourself Lord. There’s no middle ground. It will be revealed, manifested in that day. “He who has the Son has life. He who has not the Son of God has not life.” There is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we may be saved. Do you believe in Him as Lord and Savior?
Of course, on judgment day, Christ is not only going to look for faith. He’s also going to examine our behavior. How have we lived? Have we sought sanctification and have we sought His holiness? He’s concerned with our works. He’s concerned with our actions and He’s concerned with our very thoughts. The Apostle Peter says “As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as He who has called you is holy, be holy yourself in all your conduct, for it is written you shall be holy for I am holy.” If you invoke, as Father, Him who judges each one impartially according to his deeds, “conduct yourselves with respect throughout this time of exile.” Holiness. It’s going to be judged.
He’s also going to look for people of compassion. People who really reach out with compassion toward other people. He wants to be able to look at you and say “Come, Oh blessed of My Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world, because I was hungry and you gave me to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me to drink. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and in prison and you visited me.” People of compassion.
He’s going to look for people of mercy. The Bible is very clear. Judgment is without mercy for those who have shown no mercy. The Son of Righteousness. No longer shall you be unable to distinguish between the righteous and the wicked. Justice will be established in the world.
There’s a second teaching from this title, Son of Righteousness. The second and final teaching: when Christ comes, He will not only come to bring judgement and justice, He will also come to bring healing, healing to His people. Malachi, Chapter 4, verse 2, really one of the most beautiful verses in God’s word: “The Son of Righteousness shall arise with healing on His wings.”
We live in a world where people from the dawn of civilization have longed for healing. A world where people want to be healed of their illnesses and of their diseases. A world where people want to be healed of their infirmities. In the time of the Bible, in the time of our Lord Jesus Christ, people throughout the Greek and Roman world looked to Asclepius for healing. Asclepius was considered the god of healing, and his daughter Hygieia, from which we get the word “hygiene,” was the goddess of healing. You see, throughout the Greek and Roman world, in city after city, temples and shrines were built to Asclepius. People would pray before those shrines, seeking to be healed. Asclepius was called Asclepius soter, Asclepius the savior. Throughout the Greek and Roman world, people actually believed that Asclepius could save them from illness and disease. The symbol of Asclepius was a serpent, a serpent wrapped around a staff. Archeologists have found this symbol on ruins of temples built in honor of Asclepius throughout the biblical world and throughout the Greek and Roman world.
The headquarters of the cult of Asclepius was the city of Pergamum in Asia Minor. There, this incredible cathedral called the Asclepieion was built. This was the center of healing in the ancient world. It was called the Lourdes of the ancient world. Throughout the Roman and Greek world, people would come to Pergamum seeking special healing. They would come from hundreds of miles away, men and women, little boys and girls. They would come with diseases and illnesses and sometimes they would carry their loved ones, desperate to be healed. They would come to the Asclepieion, this great cathedral in Pergamum.
The first thing they would do when they arrived is they would make an offering, a gift to Asclepius. Of course, the gift didn’t do them any good. It didn’t bring them healing. It didn’t do Asclepius any good because he didn’t exist but it helped the temple priests a lot. Many of them were very rich. After making their gift and their offering, they would do a very strange thing. They would spend the night in the hall of Asclepius, inside the Asclepieion. It was totally dark in there but if they wanted to be healed, this was required of them; that they lay on the marble floor all night long in the midst of the utter darkness. You see, in the hall of Asclepius there were snakes and the snakes would crawl all about the hall in the midst of the darkness. As these people would lay on the marble floor, they would pray and they would plead and they would beg for a snake to crawl upon them because they actually believed that the snake represented and was this god of healing, Asclepius. If the snake could just touch them, just crawl over their body, perhaps, maybe, they’d be healed. What a tragedy. Asclepius soter.
Well of course, today when people want to be healed of diseases and they want to be healed of illness, they go to doctors. Today we have medicine. Some people trace medicine back to Hippocrates, 400 years before Christ. Some people trace medicine back to Imhotep the Egyptian, 2,700 years before Christ. You see, medicine really wasn’t what it is today in times past. Modern medicine is truly a blessing, a gift of God. We are so fortunate to live in the 20th century when doctors and nurses and physicians are able to offer the kind of healing that they’re able to offer. I thank God for medicine. I thank God for doctors.
I’ve thought back on my life, what my life would have been like if there weren’t doctors. I can’t help but be thankful. You see, I married Barb when I was 25 years old. When I was 29, Barb gave birth to Heather but that never would have happened apart from the grace of God. It couldn’t have happened prior to the 20th century because, you see, Barb and Heather…when she gave birth to Heather, the circumstances of the birth were so flawed that both Barb and Heather would have died. In any previous century, apart from a miracle, they would have died. Apart from a fetal heart monitor, apart from surgeons who were able to do an emergency Caesarean section, Barb and Heather would have died and there I would have been, 29 years old and my wife gone. Of course, Drew never would have come along. Never would have come along because Barb would have been gone. I’d have been alone until age 34 and then I would have died because I came down with a horrible infection which took 30 days of penicillin. It would have killed me apart from the antibiotic from what I’m told. Penicillin wasn’t even discovered until 1928 when Alexander Fleming discovered the first antibiotic. A lot to be thankful for, living in 20th century America with the healing that medicine provides.
But, of course, medicine is not perfect and medicine is flawed. Doctors are not able to heal or cure all the diseases. This past issue of TIME MAGAZINE just this past week, the cover story dealt with the subject of medicine in America. The attitude of men and women all over this country toward doctors. Incredibly, only 54% of the people in this nation believe that doctors make accurate diagnoses in determining the malady of the patient. Only 54% believe that doctors are accurate in their diagnoses. Personally, I think doctors do far better than that. You see, even when they are accurate, they’re not always able to cure. Certain things doctors refer to as incurable. What they really mean is they don’t know how. They don’t know how to cure it.
Of the three leading causes of death in America, the first is heart disease. Second is cancer. Third is strokes. Many types of cancer, doctors just can’t cure. The truth is even heart disease and stroke cannot always be prevented. Medicine and doctors cannot really provide complete healing.
It’s a strange thing that on the cover of TIME MAGAZINE this week they had a caduceus. A caduceus is a staff with snakes wrapped around it. Of course, the caduceus is the symbol of medicine, but this was an unusual caduceus on the front of TIME MAGAZINE because the normal caduceus that symbolizes medicine is the staff of Hermes, the staff of Mercury. It’s a winged staff with two wings at the top, two snakes intertwined around the staff. That wasn’t the caduceus they put on the cover of TIME MAGAZINE. They put a single staff with no wings, no wings on the top, and only one snake wrapped around. The truth of the matter is that was the symbol of the cult of Asclepius. Now, why TIME MAGAZINE did that I don’t know but perhaps it’s appropriate because, you see, some people look to medicine to be their savior. Some people hope that somehow medicine might provide ultimate salvation, cure all diseases, bring about a cessation to the degeneration of human cells, even provide eternal life. But, you see, medicine is no more our savior than Asclepius was because our medicine is imperfect and our knowledge is in part. There’s only one Savior and that one Savior is Jesus Christ, the Son of Righteousness. When He came into our world, indeed He came with healing on His wings.
Have you ever gone through the gospels and looked at Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John and just examined the healing miracles of Jesus Christ? It’s absolutely a moving experience. Have you ever looked at the eighth chapter of the gospel of Luke, looked at this one day from the life of our Lord? The day began with our Lord on the Sea of Galilee with His disciples. They’re crossing towards the eastern shore. A storm arises and the wind is great and the waves rise and water begins to fill the boat. The disciples think they’re going to die. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is sleeping. They come up to Him and say, “Master do you not care that we perish?” They’re amazed as He stands and He rebukes the wind and He calms the sea and they say “Who is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
They come to the eastern shore, and they get out of the boat. They walk a short distance. They’re in the region of the Gerasenes and they come upon a man who is demon possessed. An infamous man. He is known throughout the region. People are afraid of him. He is called crazy. His name is Legion, possessed by many demons. He runs around in the nude. He sleeps in empty graves in the local cemetery. People don’t want to have anything to do with him, but Jesus Christ goes right up to him. Jesus Christ heals him. Christ casts the demons out of him and the people are amazed. They are amazed to see this man fully clothed and sitting down calmly talking to Jesus Christ. They don’t understand.
Jesus and His disciples go to get into the boat and leave and this man who had been possessed by many demons says “Lord, can I go with You?” He says “No, but go back to your family. Tell your family everything God has done for you.”
Jesus gets in the boat with the disciples and they head back to the western shore, probably Capernaum. They are walking through the city and a man named Jairus, ruler of the synagogue, comes up to Him and says “Lord, my daughter is gravely ill and she is on the verge of death. Please help me.” Jesus says “Lead the way. I will follow.” Crowds gather around as Christ begins to walk with His disciples through the city and everyone’s bunched in tight as He’s walking through the street. There’s a woman there and she has a hemorrhage. In fact, she’s been hemorrhaging for 12 years and it’s not just a medical problem. It’s a social problem because she’s considered ceremonially unclean and she’s not even allowed to worship. She’s desperate and she thinks to herself, “If I can just touch the hem of His garment, I’ll be healed.” In the midst of the crowd, she grabs hold of His garment and power comes forth from Him. Jesus stops and He said “Who touched me?” The people laughed because they all touched Him. Everybody’s crowded in about. He said, “I felt power go forth from Me.” This woman confesses that she was the one, and having been healed, the Lord blessed her.
I’m sure this was hard for Jairus because his daughter was dying and all this was taking time and he was in a hurry to get back to the house. Then Jesus continues on with Jairus and the disciples. As they’re approaching the house, servants come out and they say “It’s too late. Sir, your daughter is dead. She’s already died.” Jesus looks at this dad and Jesus said “Have faith. Just believe.” He goes into the house and He takes the dad and mom and Peter, James and John. He goes into the house and He looks down at this little girl, 12 years old. He touches her. He says “Talitha cumi”…”Little girl arise,” and she rose from the dead in power to the glory of God because, you see, He is the Son of Righteousness with healing on His wings. The people realized He was the anointed one of God, the promised one to come.
Has He ushered in an age of healing? Certainly, the Apostles, after our Lord left the earth, continued to perform miracles of healing in His name and by His power. But those first apostles are gone. Through the centuries, Christian men and women, anointed by the Holy Spirit, have continued to perform miracles of healing in His name. We want you to know that as a church we believe in healing and that’s why we pray for people. We’ve prayed for people in the past and we’re going to pray for people in the future. Many Sunday mornings our elders gather in one of the back offices just to pray for somebody who is sick and in need of healing, the laying on of hands. Every Sunday after church, after every service, we have deacons and elders available for you.
When we start our Wednesday evening worship services in September, after every service there will be opportunities for prayer for various types of healing because we believe Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of Righteousness with healing on His wings.
Of course, it would not be fair, it would not be right, it would not be true to say that this age of healing has reached fruition. It has not, and our healing is flawed. His power is not flawed. His power is not limited, but healing just doesn’t always take place in the way we want it to and we confess that many times we pray for people and the thing we desire for them does not happen, but we pray anyway. We pray anyway in obedience to His word. There’s a mystery, a mystery to the Lord’s ministry of healing in our time.
But you see, this passage in Malachi does not primarily refer to the first coming of Jesus Christ. In its context, this passage in Malachi primarily refers to the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is then, when in fruition, He will come, Son of Righteousness, with healing on His wings. Then, you see, in that day, “death will be no more. Neither will there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away and all things will be made new.” This healing will not simply be physical, with resurrection bodies indestructible and no longer subject to decay, but this healing will be spiritual and we’ll be made whole. “We’ll no longer see in a mirror dimly, but we’ll see Him face-to-face. We’ll no longer know in part, but we’ll know fully even as we are fully known.”
This healing will even be socio-political, which the Jews understood concerning the promises Messiah. He’ll bring a new age to the creation, a new era, an era of peace with socio-political healing and He will “beat our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not lift up sword against nation and neither shall they learn war anymore.” The kingdoms of this world will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ and He will rule forever.
The Son of Righteousness. He will come to implement justice, to heal His people. In the meantime, in the time that remains, He’s called us to be people of faith, faithful unto death. Let’s close with a word of prayer.